After you and I didn’t work out, you got what’s-her-name, but I got your family. I’d do anything for them.”
“They’re lucky to have you.”
“No.” She shook her head and her ponytail swung from side to side. “I’m the lucky one.”
The weird feeling in his chest felt a lot like envy. He was jealous of her loyalty to his dad, sister and nephew even though he’d given up any right to her commitment. He might not have cheated officially but it was a betrayal of spirit. And he still didn’t feel as if the air was cleared.
“I should have told you I was dating someone, but I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“And that worked out so well.” She smiled, but it didn’t turn her hazel eyes from green to warm. They went almost chocolaty brown. “Golly, this has been fun, but I have someone coming in for a sitting and need to get things set up.”
“Okay. I didn’t mean to keep you.”
“No problem. I appreciate you stopping by. Now when we run into each other it won’t be awkward at all. See you around, Will.” She turned and walked into the back.
“Bye, April.”
He left her shop and felt like gum on someone’s shoe. Kim had said seeing her would take the heat off, but she couldn’t have been more wrong. The heat was on and it had nothing to do with their history and everything to do with the beautiful, sexy woman April Kennedy still was. And when had she gotten so confident and sassy? So independent?
That was different. She was the same—but different.
Man, it was going to be a long, hot summer.
* * *
April heard a knock on the sliding glass door in her kitchen and hurried to answer it. Kim Fletcher was standing on the back porch and she yanked the other woman inside.
“Thanks for coming. I’m glad you didn’t have plans with Luke.”
“I’d have canceled if I did. You said it was vital that we talk. What’s up?”
Her friend was engaged to be married this summer to another teacher at Blackwater Lake High School, where she worked in the English Department. Luke was the football coach in addition to teaching science. Her son, Tim, played freshman football and approved of the man his mom was going to marry. She’d found her happily-ever-after and April was glad at least one of them had.
“Did anyone at home know you were coming over here?”
Kim gave her a “really?” look. “News flash. My father, brother and son are guys. They don’t pay any attention to me. I could announce that I was going to be a fire eater in the circus and they’d say ‘Have a good time.’ I’m invisible to them.”
“Okay.” With Will in Chicago all this time, April had forgotten how inconvenient it was that her best friend and her ex were siblings. Who now temporarily lived together under the same roof. All she’d thought about was her own personal emergency and made an SOS call to her bestie. “I need to talk to you and the conversation calls for wine.”
“Twist my arm.” Kim held it out. “I promise I won’t say no.”
Kim Fletcher was pretty and for a long time April hadn’t thought about how much she looked like her brother. Same blue eyes and brown hair, although her friend’s was heavily highlighted, making her look more blonde. The thought of manly, masculine Will with highlighted hair almost made her smile.
After April poured Chardonnay into the two wineglasses waiting on the kitchen island, they carried them to the family room and sat on the sofa.
Kim scooted back and tucked her legs up beside her. “You saw Will.”
April sipped her wine then nodded. “I’d say you’re psychic except that he admitted the meeting was your idea. To avoid an awkward, public encounter.”
“You’re welcome,” Kim said.
“Hold it. I’m not on the gratitude train yet.” April had been jittery and uneasy ever since seeing him again. She liked status quo and really wanted it restored but wasn’t quite sure how to stuff all the emotional junk back in the jar. “It might have been better to take my chances. Maybe I wouldn’t have run into him at all.”
“Seriously?” The other woman gave her a you’re-kidding-yourself look. “This town is the size of a postage stamp. The sheriff’s office is right across the street from your shop. He’s living not very far from your back door. If you really believe your paths won’t cross in the three months he’ll be here, you’re in serious denial.”
“I know. And you’re right. But I wish you’d warned me.”
Kim shook her head. “Surprise was better. Your reaction had to be natural. Unscripted.”
April wanted to crawl into a hole when she thought about how it had gone seeing Will again. She hadn’t been prepared and preparation was her thing. When she got in the car, she mentally plotted the route to her destination. Writing a grocery list started on aisle one and ended at produce. For a photography sitting she always had cameras, lenses, backdrops and props ready.
Even though he lived in Chicago, she knew Will would return to Blackwater Lake from time to time because his family was here. Kim had always warned her when he was visiting and she’d successfully avoided him. In fact she hadn’t seen him at the hospital when his dad had surgery, but she knew he’d been there. She managed to stay out of his way. None of that stopped her from picturing how a meeting between them would go and in her imagination she’d always been less tongue-tied, her wit sharp as a stiletto. Her moment to make him sorry he hadn’t waited for her.
“I don’t know about unscripted,” April said ruefully, “but it was unsomething.”
“How was it? Seeing him again, I mean?” Sympathy gathered in Kim’s eyes.
“He looks good.” Really good. April hated to admit it, but he’d been right that she hadn’t wanted to tell him so. “And it’s nice of him to put his life on hold and come back to help the family.”
Kim nodded absently. “Don’t get me wrong. I love my brother. But I think there’s something going on with him. Career-wise, I mean. There have been family crises—God knows I was one. Being an unwed teenage mother certainly qualifies for family-crisis material. Mom was killed in that car accident not long after he entered the police academy. It’s not to say he doesn’t care because I know he does. But he never put work on hold to be here for us before.”
“Has he said anything?”
The other woman shook her head. “No. He just seems edgy, tense. Different. I don’t know. Maybe I’m seeing ghosts where there aren’t any.”
“Maybe you should talk to him about it.” April didn’t have the right to be involved in his life and it annoyed her that she couldn’t shut off her concern. “Get him to open up.”
“You know better than anyone that my brother doesn’t talk about stuff. Right now getting Dad back on his feet is the most important thing. Will
